China's leading industrial and commercial city of Shanghai saw the establishment of a foreign investment development center on December 30.

Shanghai's Vice-Mayor Jiang Yiren said this move is a major step taken by the city to improve the local business environment in accordance with international practices.

The Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board under the Municipal Overseas Investment Commission will provide overseas investors with various services concerning investment in the city.

Apart from participating in policy-making for overseas investors, the board will also be engaged in collecting and providing information, and organizing investment promotion.

According to Jiang, the board will soon open representative offices in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Hong Kong.

Shanghai approved a total of 1,344 overseas-funded projects during the first 11 months of this year, with combined contractual overseas investment of 3.78 billion US dollars.